The Michigan Engineering community is invited to attend the fifth annual EECS Juneteenth Celebration on Wednesday, June 19, from 11:00 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. The theme of this year's event is Celebrating Excellence in People-First Engineering and Computing. The program will include: - Live performance of "Lift Every Voice and Sing" by Amber Rogers (U-M School of Music), first prize winner of the 2024 George Shirley Voice Competition- Abridged reading of the Emancipation Proclamation  - Presentation by Shawn Blanton, Joseph F. and Nancy Keithley Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department at Carnegie Mellon University- Presentation by James Mickens, Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science, Harvard School of Engineering & Applied Sciences- Remarks by EECS department chairs At the conclusion of the program, lunch will be available outside in the Gerstacker Grove. The EECS department has partnered with two black-owned businesses, Good Eats and Motor City Sweet Treats, to offer food truck lunches. As a university, recognizing Juneteenth involves acknowledging the significance of this date in American history. Juneteenth, which is celebrated on June 19th, marks the day in 1865 when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced the end of the Civil War, ensuring the freedom of all slaves. This was two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation had formally freed slaves in the Confederate states. Juneteenth thus celebrates the end of slavery in the United States and is a day for education and reflection on the history of slavery and the ongoing struggle for racial justice.